The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, will travel to the Canary Islands tomorrow to meet with its president, Ángel Víctor Torres, with whom he is expected to have the opportunity to discuss the new stage of the relationship with Morocco and the impact that this will have for the archipelago.
Albares has been claiming after the meeting in Rabat between the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and King Mohamed VI, the benefits of the new relationship for the Canary Islands, but on the islands it has been the subject of controversy.
For the minister, as a result of this policy, irregular immigration to the archipelago has been reduced in the last month, that there is a roadmap that opens the way for the maritime connection of the Canary Islands with Morocco and that the two countries are going to reactivate in June the working group for the delimitation of territorial waters on the Atlantic façade, among other aspects.
He has tried to send a message of calm to the Canarians, assuring that the Government watches over their interests and will always defend them, mainly due to the concern on the islands about the resumption of prospecting by Morocco off the coast of Tarfaya. These issues will be addressed among the “issues of special interest to the islands” as well as with “various aspects of Spain’s foreign projection through the Canary Islands, especially as a platform towards Africa.”
On the other hand, Albares will visit the Casa África headquarters in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to participate in the Africa Day events, which include a lunch with the African ambassadors in Spain and in the framework of the XII Casa África Diplomatic Council. The meeting will be chaired by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs, Ángeles Moreno Bau, and by the Minister of Economy, Knowledge and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands, Elena Máñez, along with twenty African ambassadors, led by the current dean of the Group of African Ambassadors (GEA), the Ambassador of Gabon, Patrick Arthur Moukala, and the general director of Casa Africa, José Segura Clavell, as well as the first deputy mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Javier Doreste.
